Shikhar Dhawan has light jog, bats on road to ankle injury recovery in South Africa

Shikhar Dhawan had a light jog under the supervision of Indian cricket team physio Patrick Farhart during a training session at Cape Town, later batting as well.

There is no official word on Shikhar Dhawan’s ankle injury but India are sweating over his recovery. The visitors were confined to indoor training for the better part of Sunday due to rain in Cape Town.

Shikhar Dhawan had suffered ankle just before the Indian cricket team’s departure for South Africa (AFP)

Dhawan had injured his ankle just before the team’s departure for South Africa, which sidelined him from Saturday’s training at the picturesque Western Province Cricket Club. But on Sunday, he was seen limbering up.

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India physio Patrick Farhart was seen guiding Dhawan through a few yards of jogging at the ground before the opener went back to the massage table for more treatment.

Shikhar Dhawan also batted in the second half of the training session on Sunday, an encouraging sign as India would be hoping to have all players fit before the first Test starts here on January 5. With KL Rahul around, India don’t have a headache in the opening department, but they will be eager to have Dhawan back to full fitness at the earliest.

That apart, India are slowly gearing up for the first Test by getting the basics right. “We can’t say what kind of wicket we are going to get in the match. We know the general conditions in South Africa, so we are preparing according to that,” said India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar at a media interaction.

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Kumar gave a lowdown on how they are trying to bowl as much as they can in extended training sessions. “We did two sessions, just to get into the Test match groove. We bowled twice. We just wanted to bowl as long as possible before and after lunch. It’s the same as bowling in Test matches,” he said.

India captain Virat Kohli had said he wanted to test out different scenarios in different conditions during their camp here. One of those was about dealing with the Kookaburra ball.

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“The first thing that comes to our mind when it comes to South Africa is bouncier wickets, seaming wickets but that’s not a sure thing. When it comes to batsmen, there is bounce and those unplayable deliveries but when it comes to bowlers, the Kookaburra is one of the toughest balls to bowl with. It doesn’t do too much after 25-30 overs. These are the kind of situations we are tackling,” he said.

Arriving in South Africa after an extended home season means not only the batsmen but the bowlers too need to adapt quickly. “First thing that changes is bounce, it’s not swing. Bounce is something every fast bowler enjoys. If there is extra bounce what fields we can set to that, these are the little things we are doing in the practice sessions.”